Obama announces Peace Corps mission for Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam, May 23 (UPI) -- The Peace Corps will work in Vietnam for the first time, President Barack Obama announced Monday in Hanoi.

Operations of the U.S. government service organization, in which 220,000 Americans have served in 140 countries since 1961, were approved by the Vietnamese government.

In a joint press conference Monday with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Obama noted the "cooperation and then conflict, painful separation, and a long reconciliation [of the two countries]. Now, more than two decades of normalized ties between our governments allows us to reach a new moment...I'm very pleased that, for the first time, the Peace Corps will come to Vietnam. Our Peace Corps volunteers will focus on teaching English, and the friendship that our people forge will bring us closer together for decades to come."

Obama offered no details on a timetable for the new mission.

Also Monday, Obama announced the lifting of a decades-long arms embargo against Vietnam.